Shabana has written to residents with her latest update on the Ladywood regeneration proposals.

Since the plans were announced, Shabana has been speaking up for affected residents, surveying the entire neighbourhood and relaying concerns to the Council.

Recently, Shabana met with representatives from Berkley St Joseph, the proposed development partner for the regeneration.

Read her update to residents in full below.

Letter to residents

Dear Resident

I’m writing to update you on my work regarding the Ladywood regeneration plans.

If you didn’t receive my last update, you can read more about the results of my residents survey from earlier this year, here: https://www.shabanamahmood.org/2023/10/31/shabana-publishes-results-of-ladywood-regeneration-survey/

Since I last wrote I’ve met with the Chair and the Divisional Land & Planning Director of Berkeley St Joseph. I wanted to bring them into Ladywood to see the community they are proposing to redevelop and to answer questions from residents.

In the meeting, I told them about the strength of feeling residents have about these proposals, and that people here have put down roots and made Ladywood their home. I sought guarantees from them that our community will see real and tangible benefits of any regeneration.

Thanks to everyone who wrote to me with questions for Berkeley St Joseph. I’ve summarised the questions that were asked and included answers from them below.

How will Berkeley St Joseph ensure a full and proper consultation process is undertaken with residents and their views are taken into account?

Following the signing of the Development Agreement St Joseph is committed to early and ongoing engagement with residents. This will be inclusive and enable all voices to be heard. St Joseph and Birmingham City Council will seek to agree a Community Charter as soon as possible. This will be developed in collaboration with residents, businesses, faith groups and other parties impacted by the regeneration. The Community Charter will define commitments and opportunities for all as well as explain how people can participate in the process.

The drawings released by Birmingham City Council at the start of this process made it look like a masterplan has been agreed. Is that true?

As part of the procurement process, St Joseph produced indicative proposals and a phasing plan for the regeneration. Neither of these are fixed. The engagement process will seek to produce a new community led master plan and phasing plan which considers the views of residents with the objective of securing the support of a majority of the residents who live in the area.

The Central Ladywood Estate has many large open spaces – how will they be protected?

In terms of open space, the proposals included in the St Joseph bid included 40% of the area as new open space for residents to enjoy.

The regeneration zone contains businesses and places of worship that are woven into the fabric of this community. What happens to them?

The new development is proposed to be a fully mixed-use neighbourhood and will include new commercial premises and community facilities including places of worship. Therefore, as with all residents in the regeneration area St Joseph will fully engage and consult with all existing commercial properties and places of worship to offer opportunities to remain on the site.

Will owner-occupiers in all phases have new homes to move into and will they be like-for-like?

There are 550 privately owned homes in the regeneration area. These homes are spread across the entire regeneration area. As part of the engagement process St Joseph will seek to understand the circumstances and views of all households. The objective is to be able to offer all households the opportunity to remain in the development in a single move and on a like for like basis in terms of living accommodation.

Alternatively, residents who wish to move will be fully compensated by way of an independent valuation if they do not wish to stay in the new development. The timing of such compensation will be dependent on individual circumstances and the finally agreed master plan and phasing plan. There is no cap on compensation and is subject to valuation.

Homeowners who wanted to sell or move as quickly as possible would like more details on timelines. Can they be provided?

It is envisaged that the engagement and consultation process will commence in February 2024, with the target to submit an outline planning application in Q2 2025. This is purely a target with the actual timescales being subject to the outputs of the engagement process. Any planning application which is made will be subject to further public consultation.

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The next milestone for the Ladywood regeneration will be when Berkley St Joseph and Birmingham City Council formally sign a development agreement, which is likely to be towards the end of January 2024. If and when that agreement is signed, I want to see Berkeley St Joseph on the ground in our community, speaking to residents and getting to know what makes this place so special.

My number one priority continues to be amplifying the voices of you, the residents, in this process. Please get in touch with me if you have any further questions, or if I can be helpful with any other issue.

Yours sincerely

Shabana Mahmood MP

Birmingham Ladywood